Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1887-11-19
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE'S SUNDAY
SERMON.
Subject: Forgiveness Before
Shutdown"

TEXT: 'sLet not the sun 90 do,gn upon
your tcrath "-Ephesians w., 26:
What a pillow embroidered Of all colors
hath the dying day. The cradle of clouds
from which the sun rises is beautiful enough,
but it is surpassed by the many colored
mausoleum in which at evening it is buried.
Sunset among the mountainsl 1t almost
takes ones breath away to recall the scene.
The long shadows stretching over the plain
made the glory of the departing light on the
tiptop crags and struck aslant through the
foliage the more transpicuoas. Saffron and
gold, purple and crimson commingled. All
the castles of cloud in confagration. Burn
ing Moscows on the sky. Hanging gardens
of roses at their deepest bush. Banners of
vapors red as If from carnage, in the battle
of the elements The hunter among the Adj
rondacks and the Swiss villager among the
Alps know what is SUNSET among the
mountains. After a storm at sea the roll
ing grandeur into which the sun goes down
10 battle at nightfall is something to make
weird and splendid dreams out Of for
lifetime. Alex lander Smith in his poem COM
pares the SUNSET to the barren beach Of HE'LL
but this wonderful spectacle Ct nature makes
me think of the FURNISHED wall of heaven.
Paul in prison writing my text remember
some OF the gorgeous sunsets among the
mountains of Asia Minor, and how he had
often seen the towers OF Damascus blaze in
the close of the Oriental days, and he flashes
out that memory in the text when he says;
LET not the sun go down upon your wrath"
Sublime and all suggestive duty for people
then and Eeop'e now. Forgiveness before
SHUTDOWN He WHO never feels the throb of
indignation is imbecile He who can walk
among the injustices Of the world, inflicted
upon himself and others, without flush Of
cheek or fash Of eye or agitation Of nature,
is either in sympathy with wrong or semi
idiotic. When Ananias. the high priest, or
dered the constables OF the court room to
smite Paul in the mouth, Tanl fired up and
said: God shall smite thee, thou whted
wall" in the sentence Immediately before
my text Paul commands the Ephesians: BE
We angry and sin mott 1t all depends on
what you are mad at, and how long the feel
ing lasts whether anger is right or wrong.
Life is full OF exasperations Saul after
David, Succoth after Gideon, Korah after
Moses, the Pasquins after Augustus, the
Pharisees after Christ and every one has had
his pursuers, and we are swindled or belied or
misrepresented or prosecuted or in some way
wronged, and the danger is that healthful
indignation shall become baleful spite, and
that our feelings settle down into pro-
lcnged outpouring of temper displeasing to
God and ruinous to ourselves, aud hence the
important injunction of the text; LET not
the sun go down upon your wrath"
Why that limitation to ones angerl Why
that period Of flaming vapor set to punctuate
fiami ,g dispositionl What has the sunset
got to do with ones resentful emotionsi Was
1t hapLazard sentiment written by Paul
without special significancel No, no; think
Of live reasons why we should not let the
sun set before our temper sets.
First, because twelve hours is long enough
to be cross about any wrong inflicted upon
us Nothing is so exhausting to physical
health or mental faculty as protractei in
diligence of ill h lmor. 1t racks the nervous
system. 1t hurts the digest. on, it heats the
blood IN brain and heart until the whole body
is first overheated and then depressed. Be
side that, it sours the disposition, turns one
aside from his legitimate work. expends en-
ergies that ought to be better employed, and
does us more harm than it does our antago-
mist. Paul gives us good, wide al
1owance Of time for legitimate denunciation,
fron 8 O'Clock to o'clock. but says: "Stop
therer Watch the descending orb of day and
when IL reaches the horizon take a reef in your
disposition. Unloose your collar and cool
OIL. Change the subject to something de
lightfully pleasant. Unroil your tigh: fist
and shake hands with some one. Bank up
the fires at the curfew bell Drive the
growing dog of enmity back to its kennel
The hours of this morning will pas by, and
the afternoon will arrive, and the sun will
begin to Set and beg you on its blazing
hearth throw all your feuds, invectiveS and
satires.
Other things being equal the man who pre-
srves good temper will come out ahead. An
old essayist says that the celebrated John
Henderson, of Bristol, England, was at a
dining party where political exitement ran
high and the debate got angry, and whi,e
Henderson was speaking his opponent, UNI
able to answer his argument dashed glass
OF wine in his face, when the speaker deliber-
ately wiped the liquid from his face and said.
This, sir, is a depression; now, if you please,
for the main argument" While worldly
philosophy could help but very few to such
equipoise of spirit, the grace of God could
help any man to such triumph. SIN.
hop
left the table in anger or have knocked
the man down" But / have come 10
believe that nothing is impossible, il God
help me, since what | saw at Beth shan
faith cure IN London, England two sum
mers ago. While the religious service was
going on Rev. DIR. Boardman, glorious man,
since gone to his heavenly rest, was telling
the score Of sick people present that Christ
was there as of old to heal all diseases, and
that, II they would only believe. their sick
ness would depart. saw a woman near me.
with hand and arm twisted Of rheumatism
and her wrist was fiery with Inflammation,
and it looked like those cases of chronic
rheumatism which we have all seen and SYM
pathized with, cases beyond all human heal
ing. Al tne preachers reiteration of the
words; "WiD you believed Do you believei
DO you believe nowr heard this poor sick
woman say, with an emphasis which sounded
through the building: ~ do believe And
then she laid her twisted arm and hand out as
5uuSnO as your arm and hand, or mine. III
had seen one rise from the dead would not
have been much more thrilled. Since then
believe that God will do anything i'm an
swer TO our prayer and in answer 10 our
faith, and can heal our bodies, AMI il our
soul Is all twisted and misshapen OF revenge
and hate and iniiamed with sinful pro.lvity.
ne can straighten that also and make IL well
and clean. Aye, you will not postpone till
sundown forgiveness OF enemies if you can
realize that their behavior toward YOU NAV
b. put into the catalogue Of the "all things
that work together for good TO thoss that
love God" / have had multitudes of friends.
but | have found In my own experience
that God so arranged IL that the greatest
opportunities Of usefulness that have Teen
opened before me were opened by my enemies
And when, years ago, they conspired aga:nss
me, that opened all Christendom 10 ms as a
field in which to preach the Gospel SO Vol
may harness your antagonists 10 your best
interests and compel them TO draw yOu on to
better work and higher character Suppose.
instead OF waiting until six minutes past- five
O'Clock this evening, when the sun will set.
you transact this glorious work Of forgive.
ness before meridian
Again, we ought not to let the sun 60 down
on our wrath, because we will sleep better il